Q9 Win Mobile Masters 2024
The dust has settled from an intense competition in Brazil, where Q9 were crowned Mobile Master Champions.
Qing Jiu Club - Champions - HP: 5-3 - SnD: 4-1 - Control: 5-0
Going into the tournament, Q9 was viewed as the fourth-best team in China but with a recent string of good performances, they looked like exciting prospects.
Despite an early loss to Galorys, a clean sweep against Inco Gaming, and an amazing comeback (especially in the hardpoint) against Seminal. With the crowd, commentators, and fans on social media against them, Ouling displayed his final form (with a 60 bomb on Hardpoint Takeoff), and Maoqi (with a 58-44 performance on HP Hacienda) showed that he is not to be messed around with.
What made me appreciate them even more was their humbleness and Ouling’s (who was MVP) appreciation for every single region and how this is a time for growth in the competitive space.
Lucaszin via ESL
Galorys - HP: 4-2 - SnD: 3-1 - Control: 2-2
With a mountain of hype following Lucaszin signing with Galorys and Masters taking part in their home country, the expectations were high on the Brazilian super team against the rest of the world.
Well, deliver they did throughout the course of the two days. Clean sweeps against both Kings Clan and Stalwart Esports got the crowded hyped up... but when it counted most in the Grand Finals, Galorys found their kryptonite in Q9.
I believe this is a good result for a team playing their first tournament together and there is only a way up from here for them.
Key Takeaways:
- Lucaszin is still a top 3 player in the world and proved it with a 1.82K/D throughout the tournament.
- Fokeey is a hugely underrated player and might be one of the best shotgunners in the world
- Control is only one mode and building a clutch mentality is something that this super team could work on going into stage 5.
Seminal - HP: 4-1 - SnD: 1-2 - Control: 2-1
Masters was said to be a revenge tour for the North American Champions after getting embarrassed at the hands of Godlike Esports in the semi-finals of Stage 5.
With Tectonic, their best player stuck at home due to Visa issues, Seminal picked up Cartels from Team Mayhem.
With Tectonic, their best player stuck at home due to Visa issues, Seminal picked up Cartels from Team Mayhem.
Lo and behold, he turned out to be one of their best performers on throughout the course of the tournament. With 3-0 and 3-1 wins respectively, against Amigos and Stalwart Esports, Seminal looked to be back in the form that had made them North American champions.
However, cometh day 2, their lack of a proper AR and in-game leader, cost them and resulted in them losing an almost 70-point hardpoint lead to Q9 on apocalypse. Say what you want about Vague on social media, he most certainly picked his game up, when the rest of the team had left their form back in 2022.
Stage 4 and 5 are a long way away, but can they get back to the top where they were? Only time and Coach Hippo can tell.
Stalwart - HP: 3-4 - SnD: 4-2 - Control: 0-4
With a whole new social media team and a spotlight on Garena’s new superteam, Stalwart Esports was looking for a top 4 finish. Despite shaky wins over the Rejects and Amigos and a loss to Seminal, the Garena contingent made it to Day 2.
Unfortunately for them, they ran into a pumped-up Galorys superteam who cleanly swept them out of the competition, but they have much to be proud of.
One thing we did observe however was how Skerd and new boy Clove stepped up on LAN when big guns like Shadap and Incendio failed to deliver. Should Garena have 2 spots? We think they definitely should!
Rejects - HP: 2-2 - SnD: 0-3 - Control: 1-1
With Rejects said to be a team that doesn’t traditionally perform well on LAN and a tragedy of errors when it came to team chemistry going into the tournament, things were not looking too good for the team in on a technicality.
This was most certainly a tournament to forget, with early losses against both Stalwart and Amigos it was an early exit for them. The one bright spot however was how Envy and Rebalo stood out and held their ground on LAN. Like Tectonic said on his watch party, “A perfect fit is key to a team winning” and having a team based on friendship, nostalgia (2022 Luminosity) and simple chemistry is not going to work. I believe it’s time for a shake-up for the West to rise up again.
Amigos - HP: 1-4 - SnD: 2-2 - Control: 2-1
South America’s Number 2 team had their first experience on LAN and despite not making day 2, they did manage to get a win against the Rejects showing that they do have something to be proud of but room for improvement throughout the rest of the year.
GTO, iluzzions and ZeusBoo are exciting players to watch, but with Rostermania right around the corner, who knows what the future will behold.
Inco Gaming - HP: 1-2 - SnD: 1-2 - Control: 1-2
The last-minute replacement for Godlike Esports (VISA issues) was seen to come in with no hope due to them having a make-shift roster with the remnants of Loops and the Lucaszin-less Inco roster.
Contrary to popular belief, they managed to clean-sweep Kings Clan and show that there is more room for them to grow beyond this tournament. It was exciting to see Rafa finally out of Lucaszin’s shadow, responding to the criticism and performing tremendously.
Kings - HP: 0-2 - SnD: 0-2 - Control: 0-2
Expect nothing and you will get absolutely nothing. No redemption from Stage 5. No special performances. Just disappointment and a whole lot of social media chatter post-tournament is what we got from the European Champions.
With Neil coming in from Exclusive for the tournament, he was unfortunately their brightest spark (23 kills in Search and Destroy vs Inco Gaming). Seeing him benched, then post on Twitter really gives a snapshot into how behind the region is in comparison to the rest of the world.
The fact that this was their attempt at a superteam was disappointing. However, was the lack of practice on the Samsung their problem again?